“When you and I were doing the Update Show for example [in 2011], was a year after I had testicular cancer, a major surgery, and a child. And that’s just my personal life. But the CrossFit growth was going so fast. At that point it was myself, Tony Budding and then we added maybe three more full-time people. Like Heber [Cannon] had moved here by then for video stuff, Leif Edmundson was running publishing, and Tyson Oldroydwas in the house, but that was still a small amount of people for the magnitude of what we were doing. So we were consistently seven days a week for 14 hour days. And it was all a labor of love.” – Rory McKernan on the evolution of CrossFit Media

Rory McKernan is a well-known face of the Reebok CrossFit Games as the host of the Update Show as well as one-half of the infamous Ro vs. Boz CrossFit Games Open rivalry. We sat down to discuss his background and how he discovered CrossFit, how he became involved with CrossFit Headquarters as a member of the seminar staff and media department, and how CrossFit Media has evolved from its early videos to producing live coverage and top-rated documentaries of the Games each year.

In this episode we discuss:

Rory’s childhood, growing up in Texas surrounded by football and playing many sports

Rory’s college experience at University of Southern California studying political science

His post college life skiing and fishing working in Wyoming, Alaska, and Europe

How Rory found CrossFit through his passion for training and working at a gym

How Rory found himself working for CrossFit Media

Rory’s passion for CrossFit training and his experience teaching on the Level 1 Seminar Staff

How his roles with CrossFit have evolved

The Ro versus Boz rivalry; what it represents and how it has grown

What it’s like to work at CrossFit Media

Rory’s battle with testicular cancer and a congenital lung condition

Rory’s perspective on life balance and how it has evolved throughout his career

His day-to-day routine and his family

Potential future directions for CrossFit Media

Rory’s advice for newcomers to CrossFit

His thoughts on the 2017 Reebok CrossFit Games in Madison, Wisconsin

Three things Rory does on a regular basis that have the biggest positive impact on his health

One thing he struggles to implement that could have a big impact on Rory’s health

If you like this episode, please subscribe to Pursuing Health on iTunes and give it a rating. I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments below and on social media using the hashtag #PursuingHealth. I look forward to bringing you future episodes with inspiring individuals and ideas about health every other Tuesday.

This episode is brought to you by MobilityWOD. Do you struggle to get into good positions in your training and workouts? Are your movement compensations causing you undue pain and grief? M|WOD’s belief is that every human being should be able to perform basic maintenance on themselves and they’ve been the go-to resource the world’s best athletes and teams for nearly 10 years.

This episode is also brought to you by Thrive Market. By cutting out the middle man, Thrive Market delivers your favorite healthy food and lifestyle products to your doorstep at 25-50% lower cost than you would spend in the grocery store. You can also feel good about giving back because with everyone that signs up for Thrive Market, a free membership is donated to a low-income family, veteran or teacher, making healthy living affordable to all.

Visit http://www.thrivemarket.com/ph to recieve an exclusive offer to Thrive Market for being a listener of Pursuing Health:25% off your first purchase + free shipping + and a free 30 day trial!

Disclaimer: This podcast is meant to share the experiences of various individuals. It does not provide medical advice, and it is not a substitute for advice from your physician or health care professional.

Question: If you watched the 2017 CrossFit Games, what was your favorite moment? What would you love to see more coverage of in the future? Let me know in the comments below.